Children in care getting together

Robin Vinod (left) and Liz Lindsay have both been in care and are now involved in the Care Cafe. Photo / Dean Purcell.

When Liz Lindsay's dad had to give her up when she was 8, she felt as if she was the only child in the world going through such a traumatic experience.

"The majority of my immediate family passed away in a car accident when I was 3," she said. "I grew up with my father, but he became unfit to continue caring for me because of his mental state after losing his wife and his son and daughter, so I went into Child, Youth and Family care at the age of 8."

She feels she had good care with five successive caregivers, including extended family members and strangers, until she was discharged from care after turning 17 last year.

But she yearned for a chance to talk to other children in the same situation - and is now helping to set up a new interactive website to let youngsters still in state care do exactly that.

"It's such an individual experience, you really feel like you're the only person in the world doing it," she said.

"I could tell my friends about it but they wouldn't understand, I couldn't relate to them. I could talk to professionals like counsellors and social workers, but because they haven't experienced it there isn't much fulfilment from talking to them about it.

"Being able to talk to others in care would have been of huge benefit."

The new Care Cafe website, launched by Children's Commissioner John Angus in Papatoetoe yesterday, has been born out of a transition service for young people moving from state care to independence in the Auckland area and is run by the Dingwall and Youth Horizons trusts.

"It's something we've talked about for the last eight years," said Dingwall projects manager Sarah Ashton.

There have been previous attempts to connect children in care. A Young People in Care Association was formed in West Auckland about 10 years ago, but folded.

Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS) has provided $55,000 to get the new site off the ground, and the organisers hope to sign up as many as possible of the country's 5500 youngsters in state care - or at least the 2400 aged 12 or over. They are also looking for ongoing sponsors.

"We want to be independent of CYFS in the long term. Our aim is to set up a youth committee from within the membership," Ms Ashton said.

The site offers legal advice from Youth Law and practical tips about going flatting and job-hunting, as well as a facility for young people to post comments to each other and to social workers and authorities. Comments will be moderated initially by Dingwall staff.

"What we publish on the website will only be what is constructive - to normalise young people's feelings, make them feel less isolated," Ms Ashton said.

"If someone talks about having 15 or 16 placements, we might not put that up but we'd put up their feelings about moving placements so that young people can connect with the feeling, to be less alone. We want young people to know that although everything they say will be used [to inform social workers], it won't all be put on the website.

"In the long term the young people will be the ones that decide what to share."